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Many rugged industrial SSD applications owe credit to the innovation that was brought about by consumer demand for more powerful electronics, such as iPods, digital cameras and smart phones. It’s thanks to huge adoption within consumer devices that the cost per gigabit has become affordable for the masses and enticing for industrial innovators.

The first adoptions of SSDs outside of consumer electronics were primarily made by high-end industrial and military system designers that required a better solution for rugged tasks than offered by hard disk drives.

Those initial applications were limited to flight and mission data recorders, field computers for troops, GPS communication systems and other industrial applications where devices were required to withstand high vibrations or extreme temperatures.

As the merits of SSD technology increased, the drives became an attractive option for single board developing computers, and were integrated into everything from edge routers and switches in netcom applications, industrial automation, control equipment to ATM machines and other forms of interactive kiosks and medical devices.

Because of their lower power consumption and long product life in applications that require 24/7, or “always on”, capability, SSDs also offer dependability in tasks that require the highest endurance – making modern generations of SSDs true drop-in replacements for hard drives.

The implementation of SSDs in the industrial market continues to rapidly increase thanks to unparalleled flexibility and new dimensions of applications. Because they only require a fraction of the system power of hard drives, SSDs are an appropriate choice for onboard storage even in the most space-constrained designs. Adding to their advantages, new generations of SSDs ingrate voltage detection technology to eliminate potential drive corruption in case of a power disturbance.

The advanced SSD technology offered by Digistor’s industrial drives have been developed and designed to excel in a range of innovative applications that require unique specifications and features. Whether the application demands enhanced temperature, security, maximum performance or extended duty, there is a right Digistor storage solution for every industrial storage need.

The popularity of using DIGISTOR Professional Video SSD’s for filmmaking shows no signs of slowing down, offering a perfect storage solution for media in television production. Thanks to their superior speed and extremely large storage capacity, even a single SSD is beats out multiple hard disks, due to instantly accessible storage without any mechanical lag. Despite fast, reliable video recording capabilities and effortless playback of compressed or uncompressed video, using a single SSD device can be too limiting in a busy broadcast or post-production environment without the peripheral attachments necessary to streamline your workflow.

Since SSDs were not initially designed for external on the fly storage cartridges, the market has offered limited solutions for attaching SSD devices to your computer.

Enter the Blackmagic MultiDock: Designed to provide an efficient data wrangling solution that meets the needs of busy broadcast and post-production environments.

Edit Directly From Your DisksAvailable in two models, the Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2, the Blackmagic MultiDock allows users to transfer from up to four 2.5” SSD devices simultaneously, and is perfect for editing, color grading, or any task that requires large video files to be stored on multiple drives. With the MultiDock, you’ll even be able to “edit in place” without even having to copy your material across.

An attractive and compact rack mount design, the four disk docking solution installs in seconds because it uses the disk drivers built into your Mac OS X and Windows Thunderbolt computer.

Although Thunderbolt is a rare sight in the PC world (upgrade cards are available) it’s now pretty much universal in the Macintosh domain. Which means that if you’re an Apple user you now have access to a staggeringly fast, but easy to use, way to connect storage to your computer.

Massive Performance & VolumeBut there’s more to the MultiDock than that – it can also be part of a RAID system.

You can not only RAID up to four SSD devices within a single MultiDock, users can also daisy-chain up to six MultiDocks together (there are two Thunderbolt 2 connectors on each dock) for a total of twenty four disks on a single connection.

By minimizing the time spent swapping external SSD drives and transferring media, the Blackmagic MultiDock aims to allow professional filmmakers and photographers more time to focus on what matters – their work.

There are more storage options than ever for both consumers and business users, allowing them to customize their solutions as they see fit. The downside to this situation is that an individual can easily become overwhelmed by the sheer breadth of available platforms. Each form of data storage was designed for a particular purpose, so blindly choosing one could result in an unsuccessful implementation. That’s why it’s so important that people do their homework and look at the various strengths and applications of each format before investing in a particular option. By identifying the right tool that matches their needs, individuals and organizations alike can get an optimal solution.

The cloud
Let’s begin with one of the more buzzworthy platforms out there. Hosted data storage services have a number of things working in their favor. For one, users can theoretically access their files from nearly any location and with just about any device. However, the cloud has a number of concerns that should give trepidation to anyone considering it as a primary method of storing important or unique documents. Security has long been a pervasive fear in this arena, as cybercriminals have many attack verticals with which to exploit vendor vulnerabilities and tap into user data. Another major concern is the reliability of the service providers in this nascent industry. There have been numerous cases of data storage providers experiencing outages that prevent users from accessing their hosted files. In some instances, vendors have even shut down operations with little to no warning, causing headaches for their former clientele.

Solid state drives
Next, let’s take a look at perhaps the most advanced data storage platform on the market today. Interest in SSDs has grown considerably in recent years as the technology’s manufacturing costs have dropped and performance demands across various industries have increased. As Forbes contributor Jim Handy explained, the enterprise SSD market has exploded over the past several years, going from an afterthought to what was a nearly $2 billion industry in 2013.

SSD devices offer many advantages over traditional hard disk drives, particularly regarding read and write speeds. HDDs are hampered by their reliance on physical internal components. Whenever a user attempts to copy or load a stored file, they must wait for these devices’ read/write heads to move into position. The physical limitations of HDDs make them ill-equipped to cope with intensive workloads or critical processes. SSDs, meanwhile, use NAND flash technology to store data onto individual nodes. The removal of moving parts allows these devices to quickly launch important applications or boot up a computer’s operating system.

This feature also makes SSD drives much more durable than HDDs overall. PCWorld contributor Lincoln Spector cautioned that the mechanical nature of HDDs makes them more vulnerable to hardware failure. Read/write heads and magnetic platters can be easily damaged, resulting in gigabytes or terabytes of lost data. Because SSDs don’t have these concerns, they can provide their users with far more peace of mind. This ruggedness has made high-performance SSD drives ideal for intensive industrial operations where working environments can feature extreme conditions and maximum uptime is essential. For the average consumer, however, the level of quality offered by these devices may be unnecessary.

Blu-ray discs
Where can consumers who want the affordability of HDDs but are concerned about their durability turn to? The answer may seem unlikely, but Blu-ray has proven itself to be an invaluable data archiving solution in both consumer and enterprise circumstances. Blu-ray strikes the right balance between scalability, ruggedness and affordability, enabling users to painlessly expand their archiving efforts without ever worrying about the integrity of their data. This way, if a primary storage device like an HDD ever malfunctions or becomes corrupted, a backup will be readily available.

Ultimately, the right storage solution comes down to the individual or organization. Entities with high performance needs and intensive workloads will likely want to incorporate an SSD drive in some capacity. Meanwhile, users running lighter workloads may be content to lean on a regular HDD while taking advantage of a Blu-ray archiving solution. Regardless of the needs of a particular entity, the right combination of devices and platforms will make all the difference in the world.

Unlike volatile RAM, a well-made SSD is meant to look after itself and your data. That means the ideal state for your industrial SSD is actually powered up! In fact, apart from any abnormal environmental stresses, such as exposure to static, extreme cooling or heat, your industrial SSD is designed to self-maintain for many years. But if a powered up state is optimum, and powered down doesn’t create any wear and tear, when is your SSD most at risk?

Getting from one state to another is when an SSD is its most defenseless.

While the drive writes very quickly, an unexpected power loss creates a moment of intrinsic risk for flash storage for two main reasons:

SSDs perform more read/ write intensive tasks than HDDs: Because an industrial SSD is responsible for more complex internal data management and housekeeping, at any given point in operation, your SSD is likely performing vital tasks. With complexity comes risk, and it’s imperative that the SSD’s designer thoroughly design in what should happen in the short period of time in which circuits can still respond to controls.

There can be billions of bytes in an industrial SSD: Many getting accessed faster than the speed possible by a spinning disk hard drive. All of this action must be managed when the industrial SSD system changes states.

This means an SSD must use a wider range of power control schemes to protect against possible power drop offs during the write operation to the NAND Flash.

How to get it right?

Designers of high-quality industrial SSDs understand that some data corruption is possible when power is interrupted – despite the best efforts of the SSD’s manufacturer.

But the key to creating a reliable and durable industrial SSD goes beyond design, to testing: Applying variable types of power disruptions at any times in the SSD firmware.

A top-end industrial SSD has been designed and tested to make the difference between how much data in your SSD is corrupted and whether the SSD itself is usable when the power comes back up.

If you’d like to learn more about Digistor’s industrial SSD solutions, call our sales team at 1(800) 816-1886.

The market for rugged industrial SSDs has been around for decades. Solid state memory drives remain a dependable component in environments where equipment must be reliable despite disruptive shocks and vibrations.

However, not many consumers are aware of the changes within SSDs on the market- including greater capacity for storage and speed, along with increasingly smaller sizes.

After so much time since the first flash based drive was developed the use cases for an embedded industrial SSD remain the same, but there have been some great improvements under the hood.

Industrial strength solid state drives are made to withstand a range of temperatures from minus 45 degrees Celsius to 85 C, making them sturdy enough for an even greater range of extreme tasks.

Equally important are advances in the intensity of vibrations an industrial SSD can tolerate during operation without any disruption. The ruggedness of military-grade components has influenced the industrial market, allowing for stronger hardware that’s suited to even rougher jobs.

The life of an industrial SSD has also been greatly extended with the implementation of wear leveling: now the process will utilize the all of the memory within the drive, before it rewrites old, deleted data.

The advantage to wear leveling is a lot like it sounds because NAND flash (the memory used in SSD drives) has a finite write life. Spreading data around the drive ensures that cells are worn equally and helps increase the life of the drive- Much like rotating your tires.

NAND, the flash memory used in industrial and high quality SSD drives, has gotten much faster than A-Sync NAND, which what’s used it lower cost drives that can’t work under the pressure of industrial-strength tasks. The better speed is due to NAND’s ability to read and write simultaneously (something A-Sync NAND drives are incapable of), making them more efficient and longer lasting.

As users move towards relying on their computer systems for an increasing number of tasks, the speed of Industrial SSDs have kept up, both in performance and endurance. Advancements in high-quality industrial SSDs widen the gap between better and best.

A decade ago the question may have been if you could afford to invest in a high-end storage device; now those with robust operations that call for industrial strength drives have to ask themselves if they can afford not to.

Recognizing Professional Quality SSD DrivesProtect your video shoot from data loss by choosing a certified SSD manufacturer. You’ve researched, read reviews, and finally found the perfect cinema camera that sets the standard in images and innovative experience. The right camera opens possibilities, so why choose accessories that could compromise the quality of your work?

SSDs may all appear to offer the same simplicity and convenience, but they’re not equally made to compliment your professional equipment. Most modern SSDs are designed with a 7mm thickness, which doesn’t fit well with higher-end equipment such as Blackmagic Design’s Production or Cinema cameras.

Those lesser-quality SSDs may include spacers to fill the gap, but these aren’t custom for your camera and inevitably rattle around in the slot, causing audible issues and weakening the drive connection with the camera.

Our standard 9mm designed-to-fit SSDs isn’t the only reason DIGISTOR is a recommended retailer of SSDs for Blackmagic Design hardware, but we do test our SSDs to fit their professional cameras – making sure the only action in your film is outside the camera, not rattling around inside.

Don’t Let an Inferior SSD Ruin Your ShootJust because a drive is solid state, doesn’t mean it’s of equal quality. If you want to work with high-quality video that you can edit straight from the disk, you need an SSD that pulls its own weight by recording raw video without dropping frames.

The average drive will falter when repeatedly tasked with processing high throughput video data. Others use hidden data compression algorithms to achieve the advertised speed, but can only process data at the rate their manufacturers claim when storing blank data, or simple files- and your images are anything but.

When inferior SSDs are faced with constant video capture, their true data write speeds reveal the inefficiency of the drive. It’s estimated that some SSDs have up to 50% lower write speed than the manufacturer claims, which can cause costly reshoots or missed opportunities, when filming live events for example. A single frame drop can ruin an entire shoot.

Avoiding Equipment BreakdownWhen you think about all the strain of an inferior drive trying to process raw images, it’s no wonder the NAND flash starts to degrade under the heavy workload, which can result in the total loss of your images without warning.

To avoid moments where it’s too late, look to DIGISTOR for an SSD that employs drive-over provisioning. The process extends the life of your SSD by allocating a percentage of its flash memory as spare sectors, resulting in superior performance and endurance.

Certified SSDs for Your ShootTo avoid missing your shot, or losing a frame, look for a Certified SSD manufacturer. Certified SSD manufacturers design with changing technology in mind and test their drives with different brands of equipment to ensure a perfect fit, as well as arriving shoot ready right out of the box.

If you’re in the market for an SSD, view our range of Professional Series SSD drives. Our drives are recommended for Blackmagic video capture hardware, and our knowledgeable representatives will help you pick the drive that complements your equipment, ensuring a successful high quality shoot.

DIGISTOR has some exciting news! We are partnering with the the San Jose International Short Film Festival and helping sponsor this monumental event. Our Professional Video Series of SSD drives are used by many independent cinematographers as they film using Blackmagic Cinema and Production cameras, HyperDeck Shuttles, or using Atamos Monitor Recorders. We’re looking forward to see these world class films October 9th – 12th. If you’re in the area, tickets are on sale at the sjsff website. See our Press Release for more information.

Brands will throw the words semi-industrial, durable, and high-performing on anything to gain your business. But when it comes to electrical components, much of the stuff on shelves is no more “industrial” than an extra-strength Tylenol. Sure much like most automobiles, the basic mechanics of two separate SSDs are the same; but expecting a consumer-grade solid state drive to handle the demands of a complex networked environment is a lot like sending an off-the-lot truck to do the job of a semi: it only works in commercials and with safety crews standing by.

Choosing an SSD that will meet the rigorous demands of your operation doesn’t need to be difficult, but you should understand how the SSD will react to the specific challenges of your network environment, including extreme temperatures or disruptive vibrations.

Despite rapidly decreasing SSD costs in comparison with the nearly-nonexistant rate of innovation in traditional magnetic drives, the investment still needs to suit your needs. We’ll show you what to look for when comparing different SSDs to ensure your drive is fast, durable, and reliable enough to get the job done.

An Industrial Strength SSD Works As Hard As YouConsumer electronics are specified for use in the 0 to 70°C temperature range, unsuitable for those in the aerospace, military, oil and gas exploration, or even the automotive industries. Industrial applications that demand SSDs operate outside of the recommended conditions could be as simple as communication devices used in exploration where rapid cooling is not possible, or operating under the high pressure conditions in avionics.

When it’s vital that your solid state drive be extreme temperature resistant, save yourself time by limiting your search to industrial strength drives. These robust and durable solid state drives are built with the technology to withstand temperatures ranging from minus 45 to 85°C, reducing costly downtime and frequent replacements.

Know What Your SSD is Made OfThe DIGISTOR blog has been pretty vocal about the importance of concerning yourself with the list of components that comprise the larger products you purchase, otherwise known as the bill of materials (BoM) and we’re excited to see a recent Think Tank article promote our voice when exploring the complex issue that is BoM inconsistency.

We continue to speak about the importance of consistency, as some manufacturers aren’t using the same components across their products. A problem which can cause issues with a product’s “completeness or correctness” and affecting not only its performance but the drive’s compatibility with your network.

It’s important to look past flashy advertisements and glorified promotional specs to understand the relationship a product’s various components have with the whole: Many manufacturers, especially those that pursue low cost strategy, have shown an inability to use the same components or control their manufacturing process., which is yet another reason for prospective SSD customers should be especially vigilant of consistency in manufacturing when selecting a solution.

Pledging ConsistencyAs solid state drives become a more popular cost-effective solution, the demand for regularity and transparency is met by manufacturers of quality solid state drives with locked BoMs to ensure their quality.

A locked BoM is a promise of identical components used in the five most critical items of your SSD: Connector, PCB, Flash Controller, Flash Component and Firmware. This not only ensures that the components of a SSD meet the recommended operating conditions that you require, consistency is important when your established network calls for exact components when successfully integrating additional equipment.

As an end-user, it’s important to trouble yourself with the details to ensure a drive’s performance and reliability. Accurate, uniform manufacturing standards create the foundation of a brand’s ability to deliver on their promise, and ultimately, a product’s ability to meet your expectations.

The lack of studio backing has always been both the independent film community’s greatest weakness and asset. An indie director doesn’t feel pressure from producers to alter his or her project to better target certain demographics. These individuals have complete control over their films. The only thing that really stands in their way to creating their movies on their own terms is financing. Without the backing of big-time producers and companies, even the most talented and creative video professionals may have trouble capturing their vision on film. That dichotomy can be frustrating to deal with and may ultimately make working outside of the traditional major studio system seem like an uphill battle.

Making a successful independent film has never been more difficult than in today’s climate. Moviefone columnist Gary Susman explained in a 2013 article that the film industry has veered away from smaller, character-based pieces in favor of bigger spectacles. Another major concern is that major studios have bought up distributors that previously helped independent filmmakers get their movies in front of an audience. Now that those outlets have been incorporated into the Hollywood studio environment, indie directors have lost a number of allies.

“Independent film is in a chaotic state of flux because the business model that made the indie renaissance of the past quarter century possible has collapsed into a shambles,” Susman wrote.

Susman also noted that it has become more difficult for these filmmakers to secure financing through traditional channels such as venture capitalists. If independent filmmakers are unable to get proper funding, they will likely have to settle for subpar recording equipment. Using inferior cameras and editing equipment will further prevent these individuals from creating movies that are able to effectively capture an audience. That’s why it’s so important that indie directors have access to high-quality hardware without needing to break the bank.

Blackmagic Design presents a ray of hope
In recent years, Blackmagic Design has helped bolster independent film productions with its line of high-performance cameras. With this equipment, crews can shoot raw uncompressed video that can stand toe-to-toe with major studio films. The emergence of the affordable Blackmagic Design brand has enabled numerous professionals working outside of the Hollywood system to pursue their passion projects.

Industry veteran Emmanuel Sapolsky was one such individual who felt squeezed out by the astronomic up-front costs needed to get movies off the ground. With several film credits under his belt, Sapolsky has worked with a number of both high- and low-end cameras. Often, this equipment presented a “pick your poison” situation in which crews could either suffer subpar transfers or stretch their budgets thin on a better machine.

“These cameras were either cheap with a poor image quality that didn’t look cinematic, or too expensive and hard to master,” Sapolsky said. “I remember when shooting with a digital film camera that emerged at the time for its ability to shoot RAW, we had to rent a special tripod because it was too heavy and an O’Connor Head to sustain the camera. It was noisy and drained the batteries faster than we could shoot and the workflow was complicated.”

Since working with fellow international film veteran Xin Wang to form Drunken Dragon Productions, Sapolsky and the organization’s crew members have looked to keep their costs down while still generating high-quality video. With the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, Drunken Dragon Productions has been able to achieve studio-level transfers without shelling out for expensive equipment or dealing with the shoddy compression techniques of inferior products.

Blackmagic cameras offer the total package of affordability, versatility and performance. Sapolsky’s crew has been able to customize his equipment to shoot with various approaches to framing as well as in numerous disparate locations. The ability to capture raw, uncompressed video has been a significant asset, as it has enabled the filmmakers to create films that look comparable to larger productions. The image clarity offered by Blackmagic cameras effectively levels the playing field and gives indie directors a fighting chance.

“The gap between big productions and indie filmmaking is narrowing thanks to guys like [Blackmagic Design CEO] Grant Petty,” said Sapolsky. “We feel he really cares about bringing solutions to the mass so new talents could emerge without emptying our bank accounts.”

Get reliable performance with high-quality SSD drives
When paired with the best acquisition media on the market, Blackmagic cameras can help independent filmmakers eliminate one of their biggest headaches: lost footage. Dropped frames and faulty transfers can grind small productions down to a halt, sending the crew racing to find a way to reshoot video they thought they had in the can. In many instances, these unenviable circumstances are the result of an ill-suited storage device. Many digital cameras including the Blackmagic Cinema Camera require a solid state drive to transfer video into usable files. If the SSD in question is not of a high caliber and designed specifically for video recording applications, its performance will likely suffer.

Most of these problems can be traced back to an SSD’s form factor. Off-the-shelf products are typically created for use in laptops, netbooks and PCs, meaning their specifications rarely match up with industry standards. A slimmer SSD, such as those commonly used in computers, will rattle around when placed inside a Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Given too much movement, that device may become damaged and put the integrity of any captured video at risk.

Meanwhile, an SSD drive that has been designed specifically for video recording purposes will alleviate these concerns. A product like DIGISTOR’s Video Professional Series SSD offers the precise form factor, format and design specifications to enable effective video capture when needed. With these SSD drives, independent filmmakers can avoid the kinds of acquisition media-related pitfalls that have derailed many productions in the past.

The healthcare industry faces a number of ever-increasing challenges, most notably relating to budgets and expenses. While costs are rising on all fronts across the sector, one area that industry members may want to focus on is equipment. Medical machinery is becoming more complex, resulting in a higher price tag and more funding needed to invest in the latest and best treatment tools. According to a study conducted by Lucintel, global spending on medical equipment will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 4.1 percent through 2017. At the time, the global medical equipment industry is predicted to be worth $93.6 billion.

The amount of capital dedicated to investing in new medical equipment should give healthcare officials pause, particularly regarding what happens to these machines once they have been installed. If this hardware is not properly configured or set up with the best components available, it may suffer from performance issues or be prone to outages. Not only will this translate into a poor use of hospital resources, but it could also impede medical staff's ability to provide quality treatment to patients.

Given the high stakes involved in the operation of medical equipment, hospitals need to be certain that they have the underlying components to properly support these machines. Data storage devices, in particular, present concerns if the right tools are not selected. Traditional disk-based devices rely on internal moving parts that can be easily disrupted and damaged. This will prevent sensitive equipment from functioning properly and could dramatically affect the quality of treatment offered by a hospital.

From a performance perspective, high-quality SSDs far outclass other options, as their flash memory allows data to be written or read as quickly as possible. This ensures that for extremely sensitive machines, they will continue to run accurately without harmful disruptions. Hospital networks are becoming increasingly complex, requiring every component to be finely tuned and function effectively. A number of critical devices rely on their storage solutions to continue performing without incident. This machinery may include patient monitoring systems and image testing equipment. Without an excellent SSD in place to seamlessly handle data read/write processes, this complex hardware may encounter performance errors that could impair their functionality and impede staff efforts to provide excellent care.

Durability required in critical environments
As KnownHost explained, organizations can benefit immensely by switching to a solid state drive for all of their data storage needs regarding high-performance and sensitive machinery. Because SSDs do not operate on movable parts, they are not vulnerable to the same durability issues as disk-based alternatives. SSD drives run on NAND flash memory, which is far more reliable for extended use. Even the most advanced HDD will be susceptible to the wear and tear of physical operations. The read/write heads that disk-based storage tools utilize will break down over time, either due to a gradual diminishing of their internal components or from sudden trauma.

The best SSDs on the market have robust features designed to enhance their durability and increase their lifespan. DIGISTOR's industrial-grade SSD drives contain processors with higher-level BCH ECC algorithms that reduce the potential for data to be incorrectly written to the cell memory. This error correction code functionality ensures that critical data is kept intact and prevents bits of information to be lost or corrupted during the read/write process. Healthcare officials should take note of such robust features when choosing an SSD drive as not all products on the market will have them. A poorly constructed SSD will ultimately provide little upside over a traditional solution.

DIGISTOR's industrial line of SSD drives also offer monitoring capabilities that enable personnel to check the status of their crucial components and identify potentially disruptive issues before they become more significant problems. With the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring system that comes packaged with every DIGISTOR Industrial SSD, key performance indicators can be viewed at anytime, allowing workers to identify and fix such issues early on. This foresight will prevent a number of costly operational disruptions from occurring with an organization's healthcare equipment.

When choosing a storage device for sensitive and complex hardware that is tasked with critical responsibilities, it's essential that healthcare authorities do their homework and look beyond off-the-shelf options. Those products may not contain the array of features needed to ensure long-term durability. DIGISTOR Industrial SSDs have the unparalleled robustness and performance needed to excel in a healthcare environment.